Hi all,

I haven't been able to get back to the campaign until the yesterday, so it's been sometime since I posted. Hmm...where to begin? I guess I should start off with the current situation and work from there. It is 216 BC and the Marian reforms are in full swing. This means that my army is in a state of transition (I must sound like Donald Rumsfeld) and is a mixed bag of new and old style unit types. I have 18 provinces to my credit. These iclude Capua, all of Sicilia, Sardinia, the Baliares, every province in North Africa except Geatulia, Crete, and lastly, Thebais, Middle Eygypt, and the Nile Delta. Still, victory elludes me. Numidia, holding out in Dimmidi with a full stack army, is the key. Unfortunately, due to my war in the east with Egypt, I have had to shift rescources there which has slowed my buildup in the west-two front wars are a niusance. Capturing Alexandria, Memphis, and Thebes has been costly.

Around 225 BC or so, my navy began to suffer attacks from the Egytians. At first it was only a niusance, but by 220 BC they had began to blockade my port on Crete. On land, they had attempted to take Siwa and failed, as I accounted in my earlier post. Not able to build up much of an army in Lybia and Cyrenaica, the only provinces close enough to respond, I chose to send a full legion from Syracuse aboard my three newly constructed Corvus Quinqiremes. Having these vessels available proved its worth, as they were attacked off the coast of Lybia by the Egyptians. They were driven off with minimal loss. Having muscled my way past the Egyptian patrols, I disembarked my legion into Lybia near the Egyptian border, poised to strike for either Memphis or Alexandria. I sent a small detachment from Siwa in support to protect the southern flank of my operation.

In no time, I detected a sizable Egyptian army that had crossed the border south of Alexandria also being supported by a similar detachment, probably from Memphis, within striking distance. I decided to slip around the larger force and take out the detachment first. After a bit of tap dancing, I was able to trap it between my two armies. It was a slaughter, with only a few pitiful remnants able to crawl back to Memphis. On the next turn I engaged the larger force. This was a force of about 17 units, made up in typical Egyptian fashion: 3 Spearmen, 3 Pharoh's Bowman, 4 Desert Axmen, 3 Skirmishers, supported by 3 Heavy Chariots, incuding the General's Bodyguards, and possibly 1 Archer Chariot. All in all, it was a formidable force.

Having manuevered them into accepting an attack from two directions, I was able to dominate the action. I had a force of 7 Hastati, 3 Principes, 2 Velites, 2 Equites, and 2 Family Member Heavy Cavalry. Unfortunately I only had 1 Roman Archer (no match for the Pharoh's Bows), but I had taken the time to hire 2 Libyan Missle Cavalry and 2 Numidian Skirmishers to counter balance this. My plan was to advance at speed and quickly close the range before his Bowmen could take a toll. I grouped 6 of my Hastati in my main line, supported by the Velites and my Archers, With my commander behind to stiffen their morale in the charge. On each flank I positioned my Numidian Horse and Foot Skirmishers, grouping them together for mutual support. As the Numidian Javelin can almost keep up with the Cavalry in a run, their job was to range ahead and harrass the enemy Chariots with missle fire. Behind this screen, I positioned my remaining Hastati and General on the left, with the 3 Principes and both Equites on the right. My intention was to move the whole army at a run toward the Egyptian line, slipping my Hastati main line a little to the left, engage the enemy right, and thrust hard at the enemy's left flank with my Principe/Equite force in a combined arms attack. All the while being screened by the mercenaries on each flank. The General on the left flank would take his small force into the enemy back field to take out the Skirmishers. Once the Principes on the right had hit the enemy line, the Equites would go for the Bowmen.

The battle developed pretty much as planned. I had to do a bit of juggling to deal with his Chariots, but the speed of my attack took them by surprise. Expecting me to make a more methodical advance, 2 of the Chariots were caught up in the malestrom in the front line, one of them their General, who was soon killed by my brave commander. The Desert Axemen put up a good fight on the flanks, but the combined arms approach tied them up with my infantry, while the Cavalry flanked them. Soon they were destroyed or routed. The Archer Chariot got involved in a running fight with my Numidians on the left, and never was a factor in the battle. The remaining heavy Chariot seemed to hover in the rear until my Equites came thundering down on the Bowmen, who by now were also being engaged by my right flank Skirmishers. As the enemy's infantry line began to break up, some of my hard fighting Hastati attacked the Bowmen as well. This was when the Chariot held in reserve commited. It was a desperate fight at this point, but enough of my infantry began to swarm the Charioteers that they were routed. After that, the bowmen really stood no chance. Soon the whole enemy force was on the run, not all broken, but trying desperately to escape, that's when my reinforcements finally got on the scene. With only 3 Hastati and 1 Equite, they were not enough to sway things greatly, but they did put the pressure on the Egyptians. I was able, with some satisfaction, to destroy well over 2/3 of his force. This was a boon to my strategy to take Alexandria, Memphis, and Thebes afterwards.

I won't go into great detail about the capture of these three cities. I am sure that many have had greater sieges to tell of. The rest of the campaign against them consisted of the sieges, interrupted occasionaly by vain attempts by the Egyptians to relieve them from distant Jeruselam and, I think, Petra. I must have caught the Egyptian high command by surprise, because their response was peicemeal and uncoordinated. Alexandria fell first in about three turns. The enemy tried to send a relief force from Jeruselam, but as my navy had detected it coming down the coast, I was able to meet them at the bridge east of the city. It was a slaughter, as you know how bridge battles can go. I also had one tense moment in the battle for Memphis when they managed to send a decent force through the Sinai to attempt relief, but it was beaten off with heavy losses. The garrison, now even more weakened from sallying forth as reinforcements, was easily eliminated on the next turn during the storming of the city. After this it was the turn of Thebes. Having destroyed half of its garrison in the first battle of the campaign, I really had little trouble taking the city. It fell, as did Alexandria, in about three turns with little loss to my forces.

My next goal is too consolidate my gains in the east to keep Egypt at bay, while shifting my focus to the taking of Dimmidi. This should, if the Gods smile upon us, give victory. It's getting a little challenging economically, as the naval war and its effect on my trade, as well as the high cost of the Egytian campaign, has reduced my treasury immensly. Many cities are feeling the strain and have rioted due to my lack of funds for building. Things are looking up, however, and I should now have a little breathing space to rectify the situation.

I hope I haven't bored everybody. My posts do tend to go on a bit, but I enjoy sharing my tales with good listeners. We have a few good ones in the Org.